Conveyer



July 21 1942. G. E. sTlLwr-:LL 2,290,456

CONVEYER Original Filed May 26, 1937 Tram/5y Patented July 21, 1942 vl TED STTS CONVEYER Glenn E. Stilwell, -Rive Food Machinery Cor rside, Calif., assigner to poration, San- J ose, v Calif.,

a corporation Vof Delaware Original application M 2Y Claims.

Myinvention'relates to conveyers'for handling rollable :articles and is particularly'useful in the fruit packing industry for conveying fresh whole fruit.

The conveyer disclosed in'this application has been divided out of my co-pending Aapplication for U. S. Letters Patent, Serial No. 144.83.8,flled The general type of conveyer 4to which the present invention relates is 'known as the Slat or fdraper type Vformedby mounting an endless series Acf slats :transversely between a pair of endless chains trained about pairs ofsprockets.

VConveyers of Ythis 'type .are widely used in `fruit packing houses ToreleVating, feeding and otherwise :conveying loose fruit. .in this type of conveyer, the fruit is carriedinthe channels formed between the adjacent cross-members and dropped from Vthese channels onto a drcpboard [at the discharge end of the conveyer in a familiar f main in thelchannelsbetween the cross-,members until pinched .or .actually crushed 'by the'upper edge ofV the drophcard.

Such pinching canbe prevented by placing the dropboardat a suiiicient distance below the discharge end of the elevator to give the small pieces of fruit ample time to fall from the Conveyer before being caught between the crossmembers and the dro-pboard. This practice, however, often results in bruising of the fruit as the latter strikes the dropboard, this being particularly true when handling fruit which is easily bruised, such as lemons and pears.

An object ci my invention is the provision of a conveyer for handling delicate, rollable articles which will not pinch nor bruise such articles as the latter are discharged from the conveyer onto a stationary dropboard.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a conveyer from which both small and large rollable articles may be discharged at substantially the same relatively high level without pinching the same, and thereby reduce the distance said articles drop when passing from the conveyer to the dropboard.

ay 2.6, .1937, Serial No. Divided and this application February '23, 1940,-Serial No. 320,373 Y (Cl. ISS-195) 'Further objects andadvantages of this `invention will be made vmanifest .in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingin which Fig. .1 is avplan View of a preferred embodiment of the conveyer of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional Yview taken on'the line.2-.2 of Fig. `1.

Fig. 3 is afraginentary vertical sectionalview taken on the line 3--L3 of Fig..2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view similar `to Fig. 2 showing the manner in which rollable articles are discharged-fromthe conveyer onto the dropboard.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective Vview showing Vthe manner in which the vslats ci the conveyer ofiny invention are attached to .thechaina vReferring specically to `the drawing, a con- Y veyer I9, ocmprisinga preferred-.embodiment of .my inventionincludes a frame li, and van endless draper or carrierlZ.

The frame Il comprises a `pair of said .rails 'l5 held in `spaced,.parallel relation'byspacer rods 'I6 as seen `in Figs. 2 and 3f. Upper portions of the side .rails l5 are bent downward .to yprovide aprons il which are co-extensive -With'the .rails l5. VFixed on the rails l5 at opposite-endsA of vthe conveyer lil are pairs of aligned'bearings i9 and 2li shown in Fig. 1. Mounted on the innermost surface of each `oi the side Yrails I5 isa chain track 23 for supporting the upper Eight `of the ncarrier llas described hereinafter.

The carrier l2 includes an -idle shaft 25 journalled in the bearings I9 asshown in Fig. 1. Fixed on the shaft '25 adjacent inner surfaces of the side rails l5 are sprockets 2t. Journalled in the bearings 26 is a Vdrive shaft 28 having sprockets 29 xed thereon, the latter being aligned with the sprockets 2S. Fixed on one end of the drive shaft 23 is a sprocket 3! by which the carrier l2 may be driven. Trained about aligned pairs of the sprockets 26 and 29 are endless chains 3. Each of the chains 3l includes plain links 32 and attachment links 33 joined by means of pins 3c as shown in Fig. 5. Each of the attachment links 33 has an ear 3S formed thereon. Upper flights of the chains 3| are sup ported by the tracks 23 as seen in Fig. 3.

Extending between the chains 35 is a plurality of slats 3l secured at their ends to the ears 3S of the attachment links 33 by means of .screws 38 as shown in Fig. 5. Each 0f the slats 31 includes a cross-member d oi a triangular cross-sectional shape. providing front and rear wall surfaces 4I and 42 respectively. Fixed on and extending i cross-members 40.

forwardly from the base portion of each of the cross-members 48 is a floor portion 43 preferably formed of a yieldable material such as heavy sheet rubber.

The term zone of connection, appearing herein, relates to that portion of each of the slats 31 disposed between the axes of the pins 34 of the attachment links 33.

Operation The conveyer I0 of my invention may be used in a packing house for conveying fruit horizontally or on an inclined plane and is particularly useful for feeding fruit to various fruit treating machines where it is desirable to feed the fruit in transverse rows.

To illustrate the manner in which the fruit is preferably fed to and taken from the conveyer I0, I have shown diagrammatically in Figs. l and 2 a delivery board 49 and a discharge or dropboard 50. rThe delivery board 49 is provided with a fabric apron 5I which extends over and lies on the slats 31. During operation, the shaft 28 is driven clock-wise as viewed in Fig. 2, causing the upper flight of the carrier I2 to move in the direction indicated by the arrows A of Figs. 2 and 4.

Fruit F rolls down the delivery board 49 from any suitable source of supply and is lowered gently onto the upper flight of the carrier l2 by the apron 5l. The fruit settles onto the oor portions 43 of the slats 31 as seen in Fig. 2 and is separated into transverse rows by the triangular As each of the slats 31 moves over the shaft 28, the floor portion 43 remains horizontal until the center of the cross-member 40 passes the axis of the shaft. As each of tl'f slats 31 is rigidly mounted on oppositely aligned attachment links 33, each slat remains horizontal when arriving at the discharge end of the conveyer I0, as shown in Fig. 2, and maintains this horizontal position until the centers of the links 33 to which the slat is attached pass beyond the vertical plane of the axis of the shaft 28. When one of the slats 31 begins movement in an arcuate path about the shaft 28 as seen in Fig. 4, it will be noted that the floor portion 43 of this slat is disposed well in advance of the shaft 28 so as to lower the fruit gently onto the dropboard 50.

It will be seen in Fig. 2, that the diameters of the sprockets 29 are sufliciently small to cause the slats 31 arriving successively at the discharge end of the conveyer I0 to remain horizontal until the preceding slat is moved far enough down to avoid interfering with the free delivery of fruit from the following slat.

In the common types of slat and roller conveyers above mentioned, the transverse rows of fruit are usually supported by the two adjacent surfaces of the pairs of slats or rolls which form a V-shaped bottomless channel. It is to be noted that in applicants conveyer the floor portion 43 of the slats 31 offers a flat, unbroken supporting surface for the pieces of fruit and that the fruit rolls more freely and readily from these floor portions at the discharge end of the conveyer than from the bottomless channels of the ordinary conveyers. Both large and small pieces of fruit of a transverse row thereof are delivered at substantially the same instant by applicants conveyer and if desired this can be done at ya higher level than in the ordinary slat or roller conveyer. Applicant thereby eliminates the danger of pinching small pieces of fruit against the edge of the dropboard and avoids bruising the fruit.

Although I have shown and described but one preferred form of the conveyer of my invention, it is to be understood that various modifications and changes might be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a conveyer for rollable articles, the combination of an endless carrier; means for imparting continuous forward travel to said carrier; a plurality of closely juxtaposed transverse slats on said carrier, each of said slats having a ridge portion the width of which, at its base, occupies at least the rear half of said slat and a relatively low floor portion projecting forwardly therefrom; and means for mounting said slats on said carrier by rigidly fixing the ridge portions of said slats to said carrier.

2. In a conveyer for rollable articles, the combination of: `an endless carrier; means for imparting continuous forward travel to said carrier; a plurality of transverse slats on said carrier said slats lying in close edge to edge relation, each of said slats having a ridge along the rear portion thereof, the width of each such ridge at its base being substantially equal to or greater than the distance which adjacent ridges are spaced apart at their bases on said conveyer, each slat also having a relatively low floor which extends forwardly from the ridge of said slat and substantially occupies the space between said ridge and the ridge of the slat next in advance thereof; and means for mounting said slats on said carrier by fixing the ridge portion of said slat to said carrier.

GLENN E. STILWELL. 

